Latest News

Rob Longley, QMI Agency

NEWARK, N.J. - A year ago, the New Jersey Devils were licking the wounds associated with an 11th place, out-of-the-playoffs season.

A year ago, Peter DeBoer was a fired, out-of-work coach wondering if he would still have a career in the NHL.

And a year ago, Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk was seen as a selfish, destructive force on a team that had made it to the post-season the previous 15 seasons.

None of the above three scenarios were anything close to what they would appear, however, a big reason why we shouldn’t be overly shocked at the fact that the Devils have earned a fifth trip to the Stanley Cup final with their six-game series win over the New York Rangers.

Just as their opponents, the Los Angeles Kings, entered the post-season as decided underdogs, the Devils were ranked well below teams such as the Rangers, Penguins and defending champion Bruins.

Missing the playoffs a year earlier may have been foreign territory for the Devils, but at least it came with an explanation. A rash of injuries to notable players such as captain Zach Parise and goaltender Marty Brodeur early on resulted in a horrific start that left the team with too much to do. A huge second half rally (sound familiar, Maple Leafs fans?) ultimately came up short and prompted an off-season of change.

Prime among those moves was the hiring of coach Peter DeBoer, no stranger to success in major junior circles with the Kitchener Rangers but just beginning to build his NHL resume. DeBoer probably wouldn’t have been fired by the Florida Panthers after the previous season if the team wasn’t cleaning house from top to bottom, but when he was, it allowed Devils GM Lou Lamoriello to make his latest shrewd hire.

“I was out of work last June and July and got a call from Hall of Fame general manager who recognized some of the work I had done in Florida and gave me a chance to work with a group of guys that have a great blend of veteran presence and Stanley Cup rings,” DeBoer said following Friday’s series clinching win at the Prudential Center. “They know how to win.

“So I’m fortunate to be sitting here. It could have been a number of different candidates that he talked to, and I’m thankful that I got the opportunity.”

DeBoer made the best of it, of course. With top-notch assistants such as Larry Robinson, Dave Barr and Adam Oates, it wasn’t a hard sell getting the Devils to believe not only that they were still championship material, but the system the coaching staff was introducing would sit well.

“I was pretty confident that after meeting with some of the guys in the summer, getting through camp, that we had a real captive audience, a group where the previous year did not sit well with them,” said DeBoer. “First time this franchise missed the playoffs in 15 years. They took that personally.

“I got that feeling very early that they were willing to listen and do whatever they had to in order to make sure that never happened again. It was a good feel right from the start.”

When the Penguins and Bruins went down early in the playoffs, suddenly the Eastern Conference looked ripe for the taking. All that was left was the No. 1 seed Rangers, a team that didn’t intimidate the Devils in the slightest.

And then there was Kovalchuk. With a power-play goal on Friday night and an assist on rookie Adam Henrique’s game and series winner in overtime, he moved into sole possession of the playoff scoring lead.

But Kovalchuk’s impact has been far broader than that, a big reason he is likely neck-and-neck with Brodeur as his team’s leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Kovalchuk has worked well at both ends of the ice and his surprising forechecking strength was a huge boost vs. the Rangers.

“I said from day one that he’s been all in, team first,” DeBoer said of Kovalchuk. “We wouldn’t be here without him.”

No, they probably wouldn’t. And as much as will be said before Wednesday’s series opener back here in Jersey about this being a Stanley Cup with the least qualified teams matchup wise in recent history - a No. 6 seed (the Devils) vs. a No. 8 (the Kings) remember that it’s not exactly as it seems.

Los Angeles knocked off the top two seeds in their conference and were impressive doing so. And it would be a mistake not to give the Devils their due as well.